


The Estranged Hero

by paynesgrey



Series: Harry & Hermione: What Could Have Been [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Ficlet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-09-09
Updated: 2005-09-09
Packaged: 2019-02-03 15:40:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12751251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paynesgrey/pseuds/paynesgrey
Summary: If Lethargy was a spell, he felt he was now under it. He had lost so much that he feared to ever keep anything anymore.





	The Estranged Hero

All those years of fighting for his life, it really didn't matter anymore. If Lethargy was a spell, he felt he was now under it. He had lost so much that he feared to ever keep anything anymore.

Darkness was still out there even if Voldemort was dead. But evil lived within everyone.

Evil also lived within _him._ And he could succumb to this evil someday and hurt them. He could hurt _her._

He stroked her bare arm before absently kissing the top of her head. He reached up and ran his fingers through her bushy hair. He saw her smile and then release a small moan of contentment.

He didn’t want any of them to find him. He tried to stay away from them, to protect them from evil – the evil that was now within him.

But last night she gave him everything.

_“I’ve been so worried about you. You don’t seem like yourself.”_

Ha! He hadn’t been himself for years, not since he ‘defeated’ his biggest foe only to find out this evil was now a part of himself. That’s when everything turned around – when Harry who was once noble and good had succumbed to symbiotic darkness. Then, he had to leave them all. It was the only way he could ‘save’ them.

But then he had to run into her.

_“I can be anyone you want me to be, Harry. Just let me take the pain away.”_

And she offered herself to him. After all those long years by himself in a life of loneliness, he suddenly had an urge to see everyone again. So he came back despite all the risks.  
‘I can’t be around people knowing what’s inside me – knowing ‘who’s’ inside me,’ But he gave into weakness anyway.

She nuzzled against his bare chest, spreading butterfly kisses all over him in showers of desperate cohesion. He could tell her energy was rejuvenated again. And he so wanted to stay here and indulge her, but he couldn’t. He had to leave before he felt the emotions rise again – before he felt ‘him’ rise again.  
“I have to go. Ron will be back soon, won’t he?” He kissed her again.

She nodded, undisturbed that he mentioned her husband. To her, Harry was apart of her just as much as Ron.  
“I think you should refrain from mentioning I was here, Hermione.”

“Will I see you again?” she asked, watching him as he prepared to leave.

He turned around and quickly kissed her, delving his tongue past her lips and soaking in her heat. She whimpered, trying to respond to him with as much force as he gave her. He broke off quickly, leaving her dazed and hungry for more. She looked into his intense green eyes, finally seeing that they belonged to an entirely different man and not the old Harry that she knew.

“Good-bye.” And the man she also loved and looked like Harry but no longer was Harry was gone.

FIN


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